U.S. Air Force Lt. General and Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Jeffrey Kruse attends a House Intelligence Committee hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
On Friday, the Pentagon fired Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who was leading the Defense Intelligence Agency.
ABC News noted that the Pentagon refused to answer any questions about whether he was forced out or why. However, Kruse oversaw the intelligence report that detailed the aftermath of Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear sites. The sites were severely damaged, but they weren't entirely destroyed, CNN reported at the time, citing an intelligence report. Trump claimed everything was "obliterated."
After the June strikes, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth lambasted the press in a news conference because reporters questioned how Trump could say the site was "obliterated" when the preliminary assessment showed otherwise.
The firing comes after Trump also fired the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying that the anemic jobs data was "wrong."
Kruse is one of many generals and top military officials who have been shoved out of high-level positions. Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. was fired as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. Tim Haugh, as head of the National Security Agency, was fired by Hegseth in April, and a senior NATO official, Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, was also let go that same month.
The New York Times quoted Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, blasting the firing given Kruse's long history of nonpartisan service.
“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” Warner said.